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H&M x Comme des Garçons NYC Launch Ignores the Recession

With the exception of three camels walking around Rockefeller Center at 8:30 a.m., the only thing out of the ordinary at 51st and Fifth Avenue this morning was the line of 250 people waiting to get the very first crack at H&M’s Comme des Garçons collection. Why the commotion? It's simple: avant-garde clothing from Japan’s most famous fashion label priced in the hundreds and below instead of the thousands and above.

When the doors opened at 9:03 a.m., devotees from as far as Germany flung themselves at the racks of black. Designer Rei Kawakubo’s deconstructed, boiled-wool blazers were the main target, but the mish-mashed Lolita dress, priced at $349, went first (we're pretty sure Village Voice fashion columnist Lynn Yaeger was one of the lucky ones). Polka dots were the main theme of the collection—Ms. Kawakubo grew up wearing them as a child—and many dotted scarves, shoes, and bags found themselves in wicked games of tug-of-war. Above the fray, dozens of H&M employees kept watch, often yelling to their comrades when a defenseless mannequin wearing the last remaining item was targeted by the assembled hordes. While not quite the insanity surrounding Karl Lagerfeld’s collection, or the cat fights for Stella McCartney, there was enough pushy sideswiping—as seen at both Viktor & Rolf and Roberto Cavalli’s debuts—to indicate that the recession hasn’t stopped the stylish. Not when there’s a polka dot wallet at stake.